Behind The Yellow Tape
by AutumnxRose99
Summary: You know the drill: a crime is committed, the CSIs arrive and the place is covered in yellow tape. But what about the CSIs? What about the lives behind the yellow tape? Las Vegas was a new start for Cameron McCarthy. Further away from her past yet closer to her uncle, David Hodges. However you can't hide from your demons forever. Can Cameron negotiate murders, friends and love?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer

I don't own CSI or any of the characters from the show. However, I do own my plot and original characters such as Cameron McCarthy. I don't profit or gain anything from this work. As you can see, I watch a lot of CSI so if you plagiarize my work I can make your death look accidental. The way this fanfiction works is a little weird, it's not set in a particular series I've just used the characters I like but set in 2014. Anyway, enjoy! Trigger warnings for rape, self harm, sexual situations, swearing and graphic description of crime scenes/murders. Rated M

Chapter 1

Cameron's POV

"So that's the break room. There's DNA over there and we've just passed ballistics."

The brunette speaking to me walked swiftly through the hall, making me struggle to keep up. My eyes darted around the lab, taking everything in. My naturally observant nature became evident as I tried to memorise the exact layout of the building. She stopped suddenly, turning to face me.

"I never introduced myself, sorry. I'm Sara Sidle. In fact I don't know your name either, newbie."

Her lips were stretched into a half smile as she talked although I could still detect a little caution in her eyes. I was almost certain that this Sara was a genuinely nice person, if not a little guarded.

"I'm Cameron McCarthy," I replied. "But almost everyone calls me Cammie."

Sara took my hand, shaking it happily before continuing the mini tour.

"Welcome to the team, Cammie. Next up we have Trace. The guy who runs it can be a bit of an ass but..."

I stepped away from her, ignoring her speech. Immediately she noticed and opened her mouth to comment when I gestured towards her to remain quiet. Making sure to walk carefully and silently, I entered the Trace Analysis lab. The dark haired lab tech worked intently on his microscope. Still treading softly, I placed my hand over his eyes the second he pulled away from his equipment.

"If you think this is even slightly amusing, Sanders, then I strongly suggest you... Cameron?"

He turned around and enveloped me in an affectionate hug. A large grin graced his face as he looked me up and down.

"I told you I was coming to Vegas, Uncle Dave!"

Sara incredulously raised an eyebrow at us and turned away, mumbling the words "Hodges? Uncle Dave?" As she left. Dave shook his head in apparent disbelief.

"Cameron, I haven't seen you since you graduated university. As if you're 24 now... I can't believe it. What are you doing here?"

I sighed deeply. Dave was right, it had been way too long since I met up with my only family.

"Well I got a job out here. I'm a CSI One, remember?"

He nodded, still smiling broadly, and gestured for me to sit down beside him on one of the two chairs at his desk. He gently grasped my shoulder, his eyes trained on mine.

"Yeah, you got a job but why are you really in Vegas? You must have left Colorado for some reason."

Awkwardly, I diverted my eyes away from his and stood up.

"I have to go meet with my new supervisor, Gil Grissom."

Dave gestured behind me, towards the door. I turned around to see Sara stood with another woman and three men, all displaying various levels of bemusement. A seemingly middle aged man with greyish hair came towards me, hand stretched out to shake mine.

"I'm Grissom, Sara tells me you're Cammie. I don't recall you ever telling me you have a niece, Hodges."

A dark haired, well built guy pulled me into a hug, despite the fact that this was our first meeting. His friend scoffed jokingly, his arctic blue eyes popping against his dark skin. He grinned widely, shaking my hands.

"I'm Warrick Brown, that dork is Nick Stokes."

A blonde woman smiled warmly, remnants of laughter still evident on her face.

"Catherine Willows. Nice to have you on the team."

They were wary of me, I could tell. My uncle could be harsh with a nasty habit of rubbing people up the wrong way. I saw his true nature, sweet and good hearted however most people didn't. He was guarded, things happen that turn people that way. Whilst I thought, Grissom began dividing up work.

"Okay, Catherine and Warrick are with me on a sexual assault on the strip. Sara, Nick and Cammie, you have a DB in Henderson. Hodges, be ready for our evidence."

Dave rolled his eyes. "One slave, six masters. You're crowding my lab. Good luck, Cameron."

We all left the Trace Analysis room, I had Dave a final hug before I went. Sara passed me a field kit before Nick handed me a vest that had been prepared before I arrived, 'CSI McCarthy' stitched just above the left breast pocket. A sense of accomplishment came over me looking at my vest. Colorado was never too kind to me but I felt things might start looking up. Nick tapped my shoulder, stirring me back to my senses. I followed him out of the building to his car where Sara already sat shotgun. Nick for into the driver's seat and I slid into the backseat, grateful for my small stature and short legs. As he turned the ignition country music blasted out of the stereo. I couldn't help but giggle to myself at his music choice.

"Thought you must be a Texas boy."

He smirked, glancing at me through the mirror with his wide doe eyes.

"Ya'll got that right, yee ha!" he joked, purposely accentuating his Southern dialect. The three of us rolled down the windows of the car, the sun hotter than normal for February. We sung along, albeit out of tune, to the music as we drove along.

Eventually, we pulled up at a run down apartment building in Henderson. 4 police cars surrounded it, yellow crime scene tape covering the door. A grim faced detective stood outside the building.

"Nick, Sara. I guess you're Cameron. I'm Capt. Jim Brass, homicide detective. Two victims, names unknown. The apartment manager is out of town so we don't know ID yet. Another tenant saw blood on the windows and called us un. I'll tell you now, it's pretty awful in there."

Acknowledging the Captain's warning, we went to process the scene. The closer we got the more I sensed the metallic smell I recognised as blood. Nick ducked under the tape first, turning back to is with a mixture of shock and defeat on his face.

"Ladies, we're in for a hell of a shift."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Cameron's POV

Sara entered the room first before I ducked under the tape myself. I couldn't help but audibly gasp at the sight that confronted me. Blood coated the walls and the floor like I'd never seen before. Two victims lay in the centre of the room, almost indistinguishable from the blood stained floor. David the coroner entered behind me, his face contorted in disgust.

"Wow, I thought I'd seen everything but apparently I haven't quite."

He quickly checked the bodies, informing us that they had been dead for approximately 5 hours which placed time of death at around 10 pm. They were taken away from the room, leaving us to process the scene. Relatively I was new, having only worked as a CSI for six months in Colorado before coming to Vegas, but I knew this crime scene would be one hell of a lot of work.

The wall was riddled with bullets, 20 at the very least. The three of us all went into our field kits to grab tweezers and multiple evidence bags. It was painstaking work, taking at least an hour to remove the 23 bullets.

Afterwards Sara, Nick and I looked around the room, scanning it for clues that would solve the puzzle of the double homicide. Nick went to speak to residents whilst Sara went to search the perimeter, leaving me to search the rest of the apartment. Every drawer and cupboard had been ransacked, clothing and household items strewn across the floor. I found no money, no jewellery or anything of any value. Sara came back into the room, holding an evidence bag.

"I found a cigarette butt. Might have DNA?"

I nodded, hoping that would be the case. I considered what I had found, telling Sara my conclusion.

"I'm thinking robbery. But why did they kill them so brutally?"

Sara looked around, probably taking in the excessive blood spatter and bullet holes.

"Well Cammie, the sooner we can identify our killer, the sooner we can answer that question."

Back at the lab, the three of us split up in order to cover everything that needed to be done. Sara said she would go to Ballistics to help Bobby sort out the bullets and casings we collected at the scene and Nick decided to work on IDing the vics which left me with collecting our DNA results.

Walking to the DNA lab, I could hear loud music blasting down the halls. As I got nearer I could identify it as Bad Company by Five Finger Death Punch. I went in the glass door to see a blonde guy rocking out on air drums like a pro. Naturally I joined in, adding air guitar to one of my favourite songs. He must have heard me walk in because he shut off the music and began speaking rapidly.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry. I am working I swear, just waiting for the DNA to finish processing from Nick and Sara's case."

There was a small hint of fear in the rockstar's wide hazel eyes when he glanced upwards, probably expecting to see Grissom or Catherine. He looked a little confused to see me standing there. I assumed he didn't know who I was.

"I'm Cammie McCarthy, the new CSI."

The rocker grinned and high fived me.

"Greg Sanders, future CSI trapped in a DNA lab."

I couldn't not laugh at him. He was cute in a dorky kind of way with that sandy spiked hair you normally see on a twelve year old kid. His t-shirt displayed a skull and cross bones, much more casual than everybody else's attire. His smile remained on his face but he spoke in a more serious tone than before.

"Sorry Cammie, DNA from the cigarette isn't a match to anyone in COTIS. Your killer has no prior convictions."

How could somebody who's had zero previous trouble with the law suddenly commit two brutal murders? I thanked Greg and left the lab, immediately bumping into Nick. I started to apologise but was cut off by the grave look on his face.

"I've managed to ID our Jane and John Doe. Terri and James Nolan. They have a 9 year old daughter Cecilia."

My brain jumped straight to the worst case scenario. We had to find that little girl, I began to hurry to tell Sara when Nick caught my arm and pulled me back.

"She's safe, she was on a school trip for the night. She's being brought in now but Sara's going to have to tell her about her parents."

An awful task to say the very least. I made my decision before I could even stop myself talking.

"I'll do it, I'll tell her."

Nick gave me an odd look but then gestured to a small girl accompanied by a uniform officer. She sat on one of the seats near the entrance of the lab, far away from all the work. I knelt down in front of her and began to speak. Her dark eyes were wide with obvious fear.

"Hey Cecilia, I'm Cammie. Listen, I'm really sorry to have to tell you this but something really bad happened and your mom and dad are...are gone."

Her mouth dropped open, her only reaction for a few seconds until she burst into silent tears. Watching her process the information tore at my heart, no child should have to hear that. Cecilia leant against me, sobbing into my shoulder. I pulled my arms around the little girl until the child advocate arrived. Even then it was difficult to let go.

I couldn't bring myself to return to the work so I took the seat that Cecilia had previously occupied. After a few minutes I felt someone sit down next to me. Lifting my head from my hands, I saw Sara looking at me with some obvious concern.

"Breaking the news is tough, huh? Come on, it's the end of shift. Grab Nicky and Greg and we'll go get breakfast. It'll cheer you up I promise."


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

GREG'S POV

Laughter flew around the booth in the crowded diner, our usual spot. The coffee we drunk had perked us up significantly after the drag of a long shift. Well, most of us. Cammie gloomily speared mouthfuls of the house speciality chocolate chip pancakes that we were all enjoying. Sara and Nick glanced sideways at her but remained almost entirely focused on the conversation they held with each other.

Her eyes remained on her plate, not glancing upwards as Nick finished telling Sara an admittedly lame joke with a loud burst of nervous laughter. Cammie looked traumatised; more so than I'd ever seen a CSI coming off a shift before. I reached out nervously and clumsily took her hand in mine. She flinched and violently pulled away, her fork clattering loudly on her plate as it fell from her other hand. The whole diner seemed to whip their sleepy heads around to stare at the unfolding scene. Nick and Sara were even shaken out of their conversation as Cammie mumbled an apology and began hurrying out. Improvising as quickly as possible, I retrieved a pen from my pocket and scrawled my cell phone number onto a torn napkin.

I caught up with Cammie as she rapidly walked down the parking lot. She gasped ever so slightly as I stepped in front of her, relaxing a little when she saw a familiar face. Anxiety was still present on her face however, so I handed her the scrunched up napkin.

"Call me if you need anything, I'm serious Cammie."

Her eyes remained fixed on the floor but a slight smile of gratitude came to her lips.

"I'm going back to work," she said. "Are you?"

Both of our shifts had ended but I knew the determination that Cammie had to close her case. All of the apartments' tenants were coming in and there had been a broadcast sent out for the landlord, I was going to have a lot of DNA to run. Besides, the silent pleas that I could see in Cammie's eyes made me feel obliged to go.

My nod spread a true grin across her face, the first I'd seen since she'd first walked into my DNA lab. She practically hopped into the front seat of her car and set off to the lab. I climbed into my own car, laughing a little at her enthusiasm. In that moment I almost forgot the incident at the diner.

Not a match.

Not a match.

Not a match.

I ran sample after sample of the apartment tenants DNA against the cigarette DNA, receiving the same result every single time.

Not a match.

Not a match.

Not a match.

Sara had been adamant that the cigarette butt she sent to me contained the DNA of the killer. It wouldn't get a conviction alone by any means but it would point them in the right direction and possibly even get them a warrant. However, the evidence was leading me to believe the killer was from elsewhere.

Not a match.

Not a match.

Not a match.

My mind drifted a little as I processed the samples, almost on auto-pilot. Soon enough I would be the one sending the samples. My final proficiency had been the week before. All I had to do then was train a new DNA tech that Grissom was seriously putting off hiring, and I would be out in the field where I longed to be.

Not a match.

Not a match.

Not a match.

Just as I finished up my final sample, not a match, I saw a familiar brunette heading towards my lab. Optimism was starting to show in Cammie's face as she stood in front of my desk.

"So Greg, who is it? I totally got a bad vibe from that Owen guy at number 12."

It was painful to say my next words, crush the hope she had pinned on the DNA results.

"I didn't get a single match, I'm sorry. Maybe you'll get a match off your landlord when Brass brings him in?"

Cammie came to stand beside me, looking at the results as if she didn't believe me. She glanced from the screen containing the negative reply from the last result to the window where little Cecilia walked by hand in hand with the social worker.

Looking back at me, her eyes brimmed with tears. I didn't mean to notice but the tears intensified the colour of her eyes, a blue-green colour that reminded me of those pieces of sea glass my mom used to pick up when we walked along the beach. But this wasn't the time for dumb metaphors.

"Cammie, what's wrong? Do you want me to page Hodges?"

She vehemently shook her head, tears beginning to spill over and fall down her cheeks.

"Please don't, I'm just being stupid."

I reached out and took her hand in an attempt to provide a little comfort, noticing she didn't flinch away this time.

"Tell me, Cammie. Whatever it is I'm here for you."

She took a deep and shaky breath but began to tell me what was troubling her.

"It's dumb but this case is getting to me. Talking to Cecilia and seeing Dave again is bringing up bad memories."

She was still being a little cryptic but I thought I had figured out what was going on. I decided not to press the issue, seeing how upset Cammie was becoming. Seeing her look so distraught so I did all I could think to do. She stiffened a little as I held her in a hug but relaxed after a second, crying into my chest.

After a minute or so she pulled away, wiping her eyes and forcing a watery but grateful smile.

"Thanks for being there Greg, you're a good friend."

I watched after her as she walked out of my lab and down the hall, silently reminding myself that a good friend is all I was to her.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

HODGES' POV

I carefully examined fibre after fibre after fibre under my microscope, willing myself to stay alert enough to adequately inspect each one. There were around thirty individual ones from Grissom's case so evidently the guy they were looking for was not only a rapist, he was a stupid rapist. They were all different kinds of polyester so my conclusion was that the perpetrator worked in the textiles industry.

I went to leave the lab in order to find Grissom, Catherine or Warrick and share my results when I was blocked by an unfamiliar figure. A cheerful looking brunette woman of about my height stood at my door, wearing a nervous smile.

"Hi! Are you Grissom? Or do you know where to find him?"

I, for once in my life, found myself speechless. I didn't know why this woman had such an effect on me but hell, she had one. She shifted the bag and folders she held onto her left arm where they precariously balanced as she stuck out her right to shake my hand.

"Wendy Simms, the new DNA girl. So you're not Grissom, right?"

Whilst her touch sent my brain into another whirlwind, I gathered my senses about me.

"I'm not Grissom, I'm David but everyone around here calls me Hodges. I'm the Trace tech but I'm on my way to find Grissom, I'll take you."

We walked side by side through the hall as I tried to keep up with her enthusiastic chatter. I should've hated her, she was practically a female version of Greg Sanders, but I couldn't. She smiled gratefully as she entered the supervisor's office, holding my lab results atop her own possessions.

Heading back to my lab, I was stopped in my tracks by the scene I saw through the DNA lab's glass walls. Cameron pulled away from a hug with none other than Greg Sanders and walked away, clearly crying.

I managed to intercept her as she exited the lab, although she was obviously trying to avoid me.

"What's happened? If Sanders has hurt you in any way then I swear I'll kill him, Cameron, I will."

She shook her head determinedly, attempting to compose herself and play it off as nothing.

"Greg hasn't done anything wrong, I promise. I'm fine."

She was doing what she always did in pretending everything was okay. Cameron was typically a strong young woman, she'd been through a lot. When she was upset she would refuse to let anybody in (especially me), waiting until it became so bad she cracked and it had to be noticed. I'd heard from Nick that she had been acting weird since they got off of their case. I assumed she was simply exhausted, she'd apparently just appeared in Nevada overnight. When she claimed to have told me she was coming, she was referring to when she called me and told me she might visit Las Vegas at some point. Not that she would abandon Colorado completely.

It really didn't take a CSI to work out what she was hiding when a shifty look immediately came to her face as I urged her to go home.

"Be honest." I began, not sure if I wanted an answer. "Do you actually have somewhere to live?"

After a moment of tense apprehension she reluctantly shook her head. I was suddenly so annoyed at the fact my admittedly intelligent niece could do something so dumb.

"How could you do something so stupid? How long have you been in Vegas? I want an honest answer right now Cameron."

Her cheeks were tinged with red as she spoke quietly and with apparent shame.

"Five days, I've been sleeping in my car. I'm really sorry if I've let you down Uncle Dave."

My anger subsided immediately, I realised that I could either get mad at her or help her out. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my key, knowing I had a spare one lying around the lab somewhere. I sent her home with the hopes she would remember where I lived.

An hour and several difficult to identify white powders later, I let myself into my house. It felt different knowing that someone was in my house rather than it being a place of quiet isolation. I could hear the commentary of one of the random history documentaries Cameron had always been addicted to echoing from my living room. Entering the room, I saw her sound asleep on my couch. It made me smile a little to see her look so peaceful so I turned off the TV to ensure she wouldn't wake up.

I headed upstairs to the spare bedroom to see if Cameron had put her stuff away. A reasonably small suitcase lay empty in the corner of the room. There was nothing I could immediately see apart from a photo frame on the bedside table. I gently picked it up, the photograph I saw hitting me hard. It was one I had taken on Cameron's seventh birthday, two weeks before the accident that stole our family. My beautiful older sister Lydia was caught in the a fit of giggles whilst holding a young Cameron close to her. Next to them Cameron's dad Callum attempted to catch her wild and hilarious four year old brother Toby.

I didn't have any pictures of them in my house, it hurt too much to see them everyday. Even looking at the photo brought back a stream of memories. Getting a phone call to say Lydia, Callum and Toby were all dead. Sitting by Cameron's hospital bed, being told over and over again she might not make it. Having to tell a little girl that her family was dead. Two long coffins beside one tiny one. Being told CPS that they couldn't give a child to a single twenty one year old living out of state so she would be put into care.

I clasped the photo to my chest and lay down on the bed, literally and figuratively holding my family in my heart as I slept.


	5. Chapter 5

CAMERON'S POV

Cammie! Guess what?"

An excited Greg ran up to me in the parking lot, almost knocking Dave over although the disapproving look he earned didn't do anything to reduce his euphoria.

"They got a new DNA tech! They told me at the end of last shift that I could start in the field for good."

His joy was infectious, causing a grin to break out across my face. The three of us walked into the lab together in perfect step. Nick greeted us the moment we stepped through the door of the lab.

"I wish I had time to congratulate you Greg but we managed to catch up with the landlord. He was pulled over for drink driving in Reno a couple of hours ago. You and Cammie are interrogating. I'll warn you though, he's high on something. Seems a bit like meth."

With a wave to Nick and Hodges, Greg and I headed to the interrogation room. The officer standing in the corner of the room threw us a look of disgust as we entered. Within a couple of seconds I completely understood why. The foul stench of sweat and rancid alcohol hit me as hard as the worst of decomp. A thin, pale man with a head of the greasiest hair I'd ever seen sat at the interrogation table, yellow nails coated with dried blood scraping violently at the exposed skin of his forearms. Definite meth head. It was a wonder he'd managed to keep hold of the apartments he owned

Choking back my gag reflex, I sat down opposite him.

"Lance Fitzgerald? You are aware that two of your tenants, James and Terri Nolan, were murdered last night?"

Lance emitted a grunt, a wave of putrid breath hitting me. Greg handed me a swab in order to collect his DNA. I turned to him with a twisted smile that held back laughter.

"No Greg, you can do it. Let's call it your initiation. Mr Fitzgerald, my colleague is going to swab the inside of your mouth for DNA."

Greg shot me a look of annoyance as he gingerly approached the suspect. Out of nowhere, Lance's arms flew out and shoved Greg backwards into the wall. The cop darted forward and twisted Lance's arms behind him into a pair of handcuffs. I helped Greg up off of the ground and into a chair, checking he was alright before going back to Lance. I tilted back his head, probably a little more aggressively than necessary and shoved the swab into his mouth that hung open with shock. I spoke aloud as I put the first swab away and began processing his bloodied fingernails.

"You know, Lance. You've just added assaulting a cop to your list along with driving under the influence and use of a controlled substance. I'm pretty sure we're going to be adding two murders to the list so you may as well confess now."

His eyes that had been darting around the room steadied for a minute, fixing on mine. Through gritted teeth he managed one small sentence.

"That bitch found my meth lab."

"Terri Nolan?"

Lance looked at me as if I was stupid before continuing.

"Their dumb kid. She went and told Mommy and Daddy that there was a scientist in the one of the apartments. Had to shut them up somehow."

Greg looked in my direction and returned my satisfied smile. I backed away from Lance and closed the swab.

"That's all I need to hear."

"Look Cammie, it doesn't matter if you don't like other coffee. I'm telling you that once you try Blue Hawaiian your life will never be the same again!"

We had been sat in the break room debating for at least 15 minutes when I finally gave in, taking the steaming mug from Greg. The scorching liquid burnt a little as I swallowed a mouthful of it.

"Jesus Greg, did you get this out of the tox lab? It's gross."

He threw up his arms in mock despair, handing me a can of grape soda from the fridge with a chuckle. I cracked open the can and glanced upwards towards the window. Dave walked by, engaged in conversation with the new DNA tech. Greg noticed me watching and cut in with an explanation.

"Oh that's Wendy, she replaced me. She was talking to Hodges, I mean Dave, yesterday after you left actually."

I looked back as the pair walked away down the hall. Thinking back, Dave had seemed a little quiet that morning. I knew Dave well so I knew that him becoming friendly with someone so quickly was unusual. There had to be something different about her.

I jumped out of my seat, pulling Greg up by his hand. We followed Dave and Wendy down the hall. I ignore Greg's silent protests as I dragged him behind me. Neither of the pair noticed us behind them, they were too engrossed in their conversation.

They went into the DNA lab, leaving the door open behind them. I slipped my hand around the door to the hook the key swung from. Noticing Dave spot me, I quickly locked the door.

Greg looked at me as if I was absolutely insane.

"Cammie! What the hell are you thinking? Grissom or Catherine will kill us!"

"They're both out on cases and Dave won't tell them. You've got to agree there's something between them, I'm just...helping them along a little."

We stared each other out for a second until my willpower wavered and I collapsed into a fit of giggles. Greg continued to look exasperated for a couple more seconds before joining me in hysterical laughter.


End file.
